South Africa – who fielded a gargantuan pack and featured five survivors from their triumphant World Cup final last autumn – showed flashes of brilliance throughout.

But Wales were the main architects of their own downfall with an indisciplined display full of mistakes handing Warren Gatland his first defeat since becoming head coach.

Gatland had talked all week about the need to earn the respect of the Springboks but Wales will not have fulfilled his wishes in sun-kissed Bloemfontein.

Instead Wales’ quest for a first victory on South African soil – they have now lost all seven meetings – must continue in Pretoria next weekend after this eagerly-awaited showdown proved to be a major disappointment.

From the Springboks’ perspective the only downside to the day was the disappointing 23,000 crowd at Vodacom Park, which is being redeveloped and has a reduced capacity of 27,000.